International Process and Packaging Technologies GmbH (IPPT) is buying Kilian GmbH & Co. KG. IPPT is a portfolio company of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) and owner of the Romaco Group.

The official contract of sale has been signed by the German IPPT and the Italian IMA Group (www.ima.it). The final completion of the contract is conditional, amongst other things, on the approval of the antitrust authorities. Based in Karlsruhe, IPPT is a portfolio company of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG). The transaction is expected to be concluded in late summer.

IPPT is the parent company of the Romaco Group, with production sites in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, as well as sales and service centers in the U.S., Spain, and Brazil. Kilian will be a sister company of the Romaco Group.

Kilian is a leading international supplier of tablet press machines, residing in Cologne with reported sales of approximately 45 million euros in 2012. The manufacturer’s technologies are used in the pharmaceutical, food, and chemical industries, both in serial production and on a laboratory scale. Apart from a wide range of tablets for pharmaceutical use, stock cubes, dishwasher tabs, and pressed dextrose and sweetener products are just a few of the many applications. The portfolio encompasses a variety of services in addition to classic machines and lines.

Kilian offers prospects in national and international markets alike. Demand for equipment from European OEMs is especially high in the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical markets of Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America, due partly to the sharp rise in generics production worldwide. Kilian was established in Berlin in 1875 as a family owned business. The firm moved to Cologne after the second World War, by which time numerous patents relating to tablet press design and manufacture were already in its possession. Kilian was acquired by the IMA Group in 2000, and currently employs some 150 staff at its Cologne headquarters.

“Kilian is a seasoned company and a leader in the field of tablet press technologies,” said Paulo Alexandre, CEO of IPPT. “It has an excellent reputation in key pharmaceutical and food production markets around the globe. Pharmaceuticals and food in general are characterized by stable growth, which is significantly stronger in the emerging countries. Our acquisition of Kilian will enable us to extend the Romaco Group’s portfolio of machinery and services with an important new segment in solid dose applications, giving a crucial boost to our growth strategy.”

“Kilian and the Romaco Group complement one another perfectly in terms of their technology profiles and markets,” said Wolf-Dieter Baumann, chairman of the board of IPPT. “In purchasing Kilian, IPPT has taken another big step towards realizing the Group’s strategy. In the long term, the aim is to further develop Romaco’s core competencies with DBAG’s support.”

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